ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS

ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS

Ozzy Osbourne recently spent several days undergoing tests in a Rockford, Illinois hospital. Seems that the sensitive one feared he was having a heart attack after experiencing severe chest pains onstage. No need to worry, though, as physicians blamed the discomfort on a respiratory virus and fatigue. Oz’s scheduled to begin work on his next LP June 1st in the Bahamas...In related news, Ozzy and his manager have filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit over the death of guitarist Randy Rhoads. The bus and air charter companies involved in last spring’s fatal accident have been named in the suit. Osbourne claims that a, final LP featuring Rhoads will eventually be released, but is being held until the time is right.

Reliable rumor has it that Brace Springsteen will be making a guest appearance on the forthcoming Mark Knopflerproduced Bob Dylan album. Other players joining Zimmy for the outing will include Charlie

Watts, Mick Taylor and those super Jamaican session guys, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. Dylan’s also set to produce a new “comeback” LP by the legendary Little Richard.

Get out your tie-dyes and banana peel pipes! Legendary ’60s psychedelic band Moby Grape have once again reformed to play a few dates on the West Coast. A brand new album should be forthcoming.

We are very saddened to report the death of Gloria Stavers on April 1st at the age of 55. Stavers was the editor and chief writer/photographer of 16 Magazine from 1957 through ’74. Under her guidance, 16 was always a lot more than just a teenybopper fanzine, and by covering the artists she did— running the gamut from Elvis to the Beaties to the Doors to Alice Cooper—she in effect made 16 the first pop culture/music journal. She will be missed. '

Looks like the failing economy is even hurting rock stars. Using his real name Marvin Lee Aday , Meat Loaf has filed for bankruptcy in New York, claiming assets of $167,000 and liabilities of $1.6 million. That means the big guy is over one-and-a*half million dollars in debt, for those of you who can’t subtract. Meanwhile, the LR.S. has hit Debbie Harry with an $80,000 bill, which the singer allegedly owes in back taxes. Looks like Debs may have taken fellow early CBGB’s band Talking Heads’ “Don’t Worry About The Government” too much to heart!

Guess it pays to be cute! Those boys in Dauran Doran have gone into tax exile on the French Riviera, which means they will be living outside of the U.K. for at least 10 of the next 12 months. The old new romantics are currently recording their next LP in Montserrat.

“WE KNEW THEY WERE GETTING OLD, BUT NOT THIS SENILE” DEPT. Stephen Stills : and Grahan Nash turned out to see Styx debut their “concept” show, Kilroy Was Here, at L.A.’s Pantages Theatre. The pair not only wandered backstage after the show, but felt inclined to mention how much they “really liked” the show and were “inspired” by what they saw. Also in attendance was Sting of the Police.

Max Weinberg, drummer with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, recently dropped in to visit the CREEM offices. Weinberg was in town to interview Johnny “Bee” Badanjek—legendary drummer with Mitch Ryder’s Detroit Wheels, currently with the Rochets—for his forthcoming book, The Big Beat, which he’s eo-writing with New Jersfy freelancer Robert Santelli. Weinberg says the book will take an in-depth look at his 15 favorite drummers, and so far he’s interviewed Charlie Watts, Ringo Starr, Dino DanelH (the Young Rascals), Levon Helm (the Band), Kenny Jones (the Who /Faces),

Dave Clark (the Dave Clark 5) and D.J. Fontana (Elvis Presley’s original drummer). The book, scheduled for publication this fall, will be dedicated to original Motown drummer Benny Benjamin and Stax percussionist Al Jackson, Jr.

Stud rocker Prince recently awarded a $1,999 (get it?) college scholarship to a Detroit minority student during an April performance in the Motor City. The only stipulation was that the student had to major in either business or mass communication. And we would have figured a major in human sexuality...In related news, Prince’s recent show at L.A.’s Universal Ampitheatre was a star-studded event, as celebrities like Brace Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Mnrphy, Steve Van Zandt, Stevie Nicks, Earth Wind & Fire and Jim Brown showed up to see the golden boy who may be king.-

Miami Steve / Little Steven (is this an identity crisis or what?) Van Zandt is back in the studio producing a debut solo disc for Disciples Of Soul bass player and former Plasmatic, Jean Beauvoir. Says Van Zandt: “Every song felt Jean writes is a movie. The sound is totally unique and hard to describe, but it brings heavy meted to a whole new place.” The record will be ready for a late summer release date to coincide with a tour by Beauvoir. At the same time, Van Zandt will be taking time off from the Disciples to tour with Brace Springsteen, if the Boss’s new • LP is finished'by then,

Chic master Nile RodgerS, who just manned the controls for David Bowie’s latest LPi is now set to produce the next release by thy Gang Of Four. Should be an interesting comibination.

Congratulations to Tony Iemmi, axe man with Black Sabbath, and1 his wife. Melinda, on the birth of their first child—a daughter they named Topi.

L.A.’$ Dream Syndicate were scheduled to play a show at Leavenworth Prison in Kansas, hut the quartet ran into some problems, when they found out that women.aren’t allowed inside male penitentiaries, and their bass player, Kendra Smith, happens to be female. Fortunately, the rest of the band had enough spare clothes to dress Kendra in a trench coat and large fedora, which fooled the prison guards and got her inside. Boy George might have been proud!

. The Fan Boy Three have recorded the Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed,” which makes sense, as Terry Hall helped compose thO tune.

X have done the soundtrack music for Nightmare, a new NBC mystery/suspense television pilot.

Rumors are circulating that Van Morrison is forsaking “rock music,” and will now concentrate solely on composing film scores-. HiS recent concerts in Britain were reputedly his final gigs, while' Inarticulate Speech Of the Heart LP will Supposedly be his last pop-oriented piece of vinyl. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see...

You can goof around with the environment, but leave the Beach Boys alone. The big news of April came when U.S. Interior Department chief James Watt banned the Beach Boys from performing at this year’s annual Washington, D C July 4th celebration—because “rock bands attract the wrong element,” creating such “repulsive” behavior as “high drug use, high alcoholism, broken bottles, some injured people, some fights”—and planned to replace them with the “patriotic and family-oriented” Las Vegas King, Wayne Newton. Watt’s decision drew a flood of protest calls .to radio stations, the police and even die White House, and finally Bonnie and Nancy Reagan, as well as Vice President George Baeh—all Beach Boys fans—stepped in to overrule the new policy. Reagan even awarded Watt a large sculpture of a foot with a bullet hole in it,, meaning that Watt had “shot himself in the foot” by banning those all-American “boys” from California. Oh, that Ron!!

Nett Young cancelled the last part of his U.S. Trans tour after collapsing backstage during intermission at a show in Lousiville, Kentucky. Young had been fighting oft a virus and refused medical treatment prior to the show, even though he had just performed four concerts in arow. Disappointed fans can take consolationin the fact that Young plans to tour the states with Crazy Horse this summer.

Motown Records celebrated their 25th anniversary in L.A. (why not Detroit?) on March 25th. People paid between 25 and 500 dollars (proceeds went to sickle cell anemia research) to watch an assortment of past and present Motown superstars, including the Temptations, the Four Tops, Junior Walker & The AllStars, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Bobinson, Diana Reiss & The Supremes (those present claim that Ross was

elbowing Mary Wilson out of the spotlight throughout the set), and Rick James. Richard Pryor acted as the MC, while “surprise” guests included Linda Ronstadt (who dueted with Smokey) and Adam Ant, who opened the show with a horrenoous version of “Where Did Our Love Go j” which didn’t go over too well, to.say the least. The whole shebang was filmed by NBC for telecast sometime in May.

At presstime (April 21st), exPretenders bassist Pete * Faradon was found dead of a suspected drug overdose in London. Farndon had just formed a new band with former Clash drummer Topper Headon. More details next month.

Janie Jones, the former prostitute who was involved in a huge British pop music scandal many moons ago, is recording an album, and who’s backing her up, but a fairly popular British band named the Clash, who * immortalized Ms, Jones on their f| debut LP, also many moons ago.

Good news for Squeeze fans. Pop idols Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook have been performing regularly as a duet in London. The dynamic duo have also began work on a new musical for television based on , their East Side Story LP. And finally, Tilbrook was part of a seven-piece band dubbed Morris And The Jazz Resons which joined former Haircut 100 vocalist Nick Heyward onstage during a recent U.K. gig.